If you've spent any time driving the crt.5 hard you know the front shocks are way over leveraged and even with thick oil and single hole pistons they bottom out much too easy. I've seen a number of guys who have gone to the Ofna DM1 front shocks, but they have some draw backs too. 1. They are expensive $100+ if you have to piece them together. 2. They don't have as much stroke as the stock shocks, so you lose some travel.
So, after taking some careful measurements and doing a bit of research I found the Revo/Jato shocks fit the front of the crt.5 very well if you mount them in the body mount holes. This gives them a very RC8 look. I've only had a chance to test drive them a few minutes, but so far they are very good. With the old shocks when I dropped my car from 6 - 8" the chassis would slap firmly. With the new shocks I can drop it from 15+" and only the back will slap. Yet, I still get perfect sag/ride height.
Here's what I used:
1. $27 - Pair of revo/jato shocks (includes pistons & oil)
2. $5 - Ofna shock stand offs (ofna 36610) (4pc, only need 2)
3. $5 - Jato 1.4 shock springs
4. $2 - (2) 3mm x 35mm button head srews
5. $2 - (2) ofna 6mm ball (ofna 30403) (comes in a pack of 6 for $5)
Misc: a few random washers, (2) 3mm locknuts
Here’s what I did:
The shocks come pre-built, but not filled with oil.
1. Disassemble the shock per included instructions to remove both the installed piston (revo) and the blue bottom out bumper. The installed piston is for the heavy revo and the bottom out bumper is way to stiff to compress with a crt.5. If you don't want to disassemble you can easily cut the blue bumper off and the piston is replaceable through the top of the shock.
2. Reassemble the shocks with the Jato (grey) #14 piston, 30 wt oil, and Jato 1.4 spring. The 30 wt oil seems great for bashing, but I might try 25 wt for a slippery track. If you are running a heavy battery you may want the 1.6 spring.
3. Removed the flanged ball from the lower shock eyelet. Replace it with the ofna 6mm non-flanged ball (or similar item).
4. Drill a hole all the way through each of the plastic front body mounts. I used a drill bit a little smaller than the existing hole and drilled that hole all the way though the plastic.
5. Assemble the upper shock mount as follows: (35mm screw, washer, shock, washer, ofna stand off).
6. Thread the screw all the way through body mount and add a washer and lock nut to the back. After first testing this I added a 2mm shock spacer between the washer and stand off to further get the shock away from the shock tower so the preload adjuster will freely spin.
7. Mount the lower shock eyelet in the outside hole.
8. Set your ride height
9. Admire your work with a cold beverage
10. Get your bash-on
Top view of the mounting setup.
Back view of the mounting setup.
Full droop brings the shock to full length. You have to use internal shock spacers if you don't want full droop.
Even with 2.2 truck tires the wheels will come off the ground about 5mm with the front of the chassis on the ground.
Let me know what you think.
I do plan on getting the Jammin X1 CR front shocks for the back of the CRT.5, but the front shocks are the ones that need the help the most. After dialing in the front Revo shocks I rebuilt my stock rear shocks with white springs, single hole pistons, and 40 wt. oil. They can just about handle as much compression load as the big bore fronts, but they rebound a bit slow for ultimate handling. A set of 13mm rears would be great if I can find a set of long springs that are soft enough for the light crt.5.